Your maid of honor speech will work best if you set out to have fun. If you decide to enjoy yourself the task will not be such a worry. Your attitude will help dispel any nervousness on your part and the audience will enjoy it. Of course there will be important things you will want to say about the bride and you will be sincere and serious when you say them. There will be your emotional expressions of your relationship with the bride and everyone will want to hear them. Some wedding speeches can be dull but yours can lively and enjoyable.
As soon as you know you are going to make a speech, start taking notes. Go over some of the fun times you and the bride have had. If you need to fill in some gaps the family will be able to help. Some of the family and friends will already know some of the stories but they will be new to others. Your stories can show some of the bride’s character traits and underline your relationship with her. They can bring out a side of her character that may not be known to some of the guests. There are guest at every wedding who do not know the bride very well, so it is your chance to tell them why you think the bride is such a special person.
The best wedding speeches are the best prepared. Write out your speech until you know it thoroughly. Even if you do not commit it to memory, although this works best, the structure and phrases will stay with you. If you do this you are less likely to flounder or lose your way. Have your speech with you to help you stay on track but do not read from it all the time. Using headings instead of the full speech is better but to do this you need to be well prepared and maybe to have had some experience in public speaking. This way you will be less likely to read it. The better you know your speech the less nervous you will be.
Picture yourself enjoying the whole occasion, including the speech, so that when you get up to talk you will be looking forward it. Take some time to compose yourself by slowing your breathing before you get up to speak. When you first get up, pause for a minute and look around the audience. You will see a lot of smiling, expectant faces. This will help settle your nerves. Then deliver your speech with enthusiasm. You enthusiasm will carry the audience along and your maid of honor wedding speech will be a big hit.
You can take some of the worry out of preparing your maid of honor speech by following some of the tips and guidelines at http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-a-wedding-speech William Burnell has been a groom, a best man, father of the bride 4 times and a wedding MC. He knows how difficult preparing good wedding speech can be.
